'Scourge' of abuse must be rooted out, says Pope, during Lourdes visit
Pope Leo spoke to bishops before leading a service attended by thousands of worshippers in France.
'Scourge' of abuse must be rooted out, says Pope during Lourdes visit
Hundreds of thousands gather to hear Pope speak on four-day trip to France
Pope Leo has urged French bishops to stamp out the "scourge" of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, telling them to "maintain the greatest vigilance", before a meeting with abuse survivors.
He made the appeal to bishops in a private audience at the Sanctuary of Our Holy Lady of Lourdes, a holy site in southern France, on the third day of his four-day official visit to France.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as children in France over 70 years.
The Pope celebrated Mass before thousands of worshippers in Lourdes, ahead of a private meeting with survivors of abuse later.
Before the Mass, he told the bishops: "You have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context.
"It is important to persevere along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance."
The senior church leaders met behind closed doors, and the comments were later made public to reporters.
The Lourdes event came a day after an estimated 700,000 people gathered at the Place de la Concorde in Paris to hear the pontiff speak.
Large crowds cheered and waved as he travelled down the Champs-Élysées Avenue, greeting supporters from his open-topped popemobile.
On Friday, the Pope also met French President Emmanuel Macron.
During Saturday's Mass in Paris, the Pope told worshippers that Catholics should not keep their faith to themselves but "let it overflow so that those you meet may be refreshed".
"How beautiful it is to see your enthusiasm, energy and commitment, and the joy you bring to Christian communities," he said.
The number of regular worshippers in France has dropped from 35% of the population in 1960 to less than 5% today, while the number of priests has fallen by two-thirds from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000.
But in recent years there have been signs of renewed interest in religious tradition, with the number of adult baptisms more than doubling in five years to reach 10,000 in 2025.
Later on Sunday, the Pope will meet staff and residents at the health facility at Lourdes, before joining a torchlight procession in the evening.
It is the Pope's first official visit to France since being chosen to lead the Roman Catholic church in May 2025.
Popes have regularly visited France, a country with an avowedly secular modern political history but deep Catholic roots.